Welcome to Boxwood Cottage!

So glad that you found me! My blog is about everything I love like gardening, decorating my home & garden and crafting. Although I'm from Germany I write my blog in English so that hopefully every visitor can read it. Hope you'll stay a while and will leave me a comment so that I know that you were here! xoxo Carola

Friday, January 02, 2015

I will probably win the price for the fewest blog posts ever in 2014, but one of my new years resolutions is to do more posts in 2015 so I think I better start early in the year :)

I'm so sorry for my long absence dear blogging friends and readers.

Oh well hopefully there are still a few of you out there?

I had a terribly busy second half of 2014 which included a big vegan event that I organised in my city last summer as well as a new job that I started in September and the move of my daughter as well as the opening of her vegan coffeshop also in September and then work, work, work and work until I finally got a few days off last week and this one.

Can you believe that I started to decorate for Christmas on the very last Advent Sunday only? Readers and friends that have known my blog for the last 10 years (yes you read that correctly since I also missed my 10 years blogiversary in September 2014) also know my love for decorating and especially at Christmas time and I usually start with it mid November already, so this season I was really late and decided to do more of a Winter theme than a Christmas theme, so that I can leave it all out for a little longer without getting sick of it already a week after Christmas. I didn't even get around to buy a Christmas fir tree this season, which wasn't too bad, because we celebrated in my sisters and parents houses and in my daughters Café this time and the other good thing of it is that the putting it all away is going to be so much faster without having to put all my antique glass ornaments off of the tree and back in their boxes.

The Winter theme of course includes lots of whites and silver glass glitter and tinsel as well as snowflakes and snowballs. I decorated my little feather tree again with the white cotton batting ornaments that I made and collected over the last few years and my favorite antique tinsel star tree topper (right click to enlarge the photos):

Apart from my mantle I always love to decorate my old transom window/room divider with snowflakes and I also used the dripping snow border that I created last season (with a tutorial for you) on the bottom of the window and really love the look of it so much better than when I put it on the mantle last year.

And as you can see I also had a little fun with the chalk writer on the window panes:

Here is the whole window in all it's Winter glory (right click on the photos then click on show graphic and on the pic again to enlarge them, if you want to see more details):

The basement door got a few adorments too:

One of favorits is this simple french Christmas cone:

The last days were quite dark here, around Winter solstice, but I quite like the natural light in the next shot:

Following I share a few more shots of my Winter mantle with the old Dresden cardboard sign (saying "Schenke und Erfreue" which simply means Give Joy) which I found last year and the crocheted snowflakes garland from last season which I still both love:

The white star pillow was a self made Christmas present from my sweet niece who`s 18th birthday we celebrated just 3 days before Christmas and the wooden Antiques sign is a Christmas gift from my dear daugter. I like the look of the wooden logs in the old wooden crate with the twinkle lights on it that gives the impression of fire in the mantle.

On top of the mantle as always I like to decorate symmetrical and used pais right and left of white feather trees, white bottle brush trees, mercury glass trees, white snowball candles, white deer and so on and on:

It's shining and twinkling and glittering all around here and since outside we had no snow at all so far this season at least inside the cottage I get a feeling of a snowy and frosty and still cosy Winter :)

The Merry Christmas glitter sign that I bought from Andrea Singarella in the US when she still had her fab online shop is still one of my favorite festive & glittering things :)

And I also still love all the bottle brush trees that I collected over the last 10 years and my little Putz village:

and a bit closer:

For new years eve which I spent at home with my daughter and out frightened cat Riley ( he hates the fireworks and is kinda panicking, especially around midnight when it gets really loud) I made this Happy New Year garland:

And for the new year 2015 I'm wishing all of you very GOOD LUCK with the last photo :)

Btw did anyone out there missed me at least a bit while I was away from my little blogging space for 6 whole months and wants me to keep blogging or am I all on my own out here by now??

About Me

I started blogging in September 2005 first only about my garden and home/interior decorations, then I discovered the world of art & craft blogs and was so captivated that I had to get involved. I learned a lot of Mixed Media and Altered Art Techniques and to master the art of soldering which opened a whole new and fascinating world to me. Meanwhile Boxwood Cottage is simply about everything I love, especially all things crafty as well as flea marketing & antiquing, interior design with old & vintage objects and gardening of course oh and not to forget I love friendship swaps. Since 2011 I'm vegan and quite passionate about it, but that has the potential to fill a whole other blog, for which I don't have the time right now and there are already so many vegan blogs to find in the www. If you like to contact me just email me to
Carolinchen39athotmaildotcom